Life at Blueface

There is a topic that often gets neglected in the popular entrepreneurial discourse which I think needs a little more focus – culture. The culture of a company or enterprise is often that unquantifiable force that drives an enterprise, guides recruitment and selection and impacts on performance and team retention. Culture is shaped by a mix of a lot of differing factors including the vision of the entrepreneur(s), the company’s approach to recruiting talent and working with people, the practices and ways of doing things on a day to day basis, the style of communications, decision-making and how the company engages with customers, suppliers and partners. A lot of companies even put huge emphasis on manifesting their company culture through the symbols and signs and layout of their offices as they recognise how important it is to reinforce positive culture and their way of doing things.

Unfortunately, I think that culture is under appreciated on the road to success, when in fact it is vital. We often forget that culture uniquely binds people together in a shared approach and way of operating along the business journey. A positive, high energy and driven culture can massively impact the performance of individual workgroups and the enterprise itself. Culture impacts performance. Culture drives work practices. Culture impacts hiring and retention and it is one of the key success factors in scaling your business. It also explains why some companies buzz with energy and performance while others don’t.

At Blueface, we are fortunate to have a unique, differentiated culture that has grown with us as we scale the business. I am thankful that our culture is a positive one, where strong performance is demanded but also where being a friendly, decent person is equally as important. We have a mix of extraordinarily talented team members – from technology to sales, marketing to customer care and finance/operations. We have a strong bunch of talented people with a friendly, nice approach and positive attitude to others around them. Our culture has uniquely blended from a core focus on service quality, innovation, delivering for customers and achieving strong results while growing the business sensibly. Our team’s culture is what provides an edge and I think it’s also that which helps us have fun along the way.

I’ve noticed this impact of culture most when we recruit new people. Our team seems to select new team members that they believe will have the right attitude, values, commitment to performance and approach to others that will work well in Blueface. This is particularly comforting to know, particularly as we scale. Blueface’s headcount is growing constantly and it’s reassuring to see that we are attracting new candidates who our team believe will fit into our performance culture and positive working environment. It helps build the right attitudes, competencies and approach to work on our growth path. It reinforces our Blueface culture and identity.

Reflecting on our growth, I have noticed that it is important to actively reinforce your company culture from time to time. That can be as simple as going out for a few beers or organising a team trip or team afternoon out of the office. We try to do this often – although in my opinion, we probably don’t do it often enough. It’s so important to encourage open dialogue and communications among all of the team and there is nothing better than an informal event to let that happen naturally. It’s also a great way of sharing the myriad of entrepreneurial stories or company folklore with new members of the team. This context setting, bound by some fun, can be the most reinforcing catalyst of a company culture. I firmly believe that creating opportunities like these to reinforce our positive culture, ultimately helps us to build Blueface’s successful growth story here in Ireland and abroad. Culture is a vital element of any successful entrepreneurial story.

Last weekend was a spectacular one in Rome for Blueface; not only did it mark the begin of the Six Nations (Ireland vs Italy) , but it meant that both the BF Italian and Irish offices were re-united again.

The Embassy of Ireland, along with Enterprise Ireland hosted a stunning networking lunch at Villa Spada before the match, with many other Irish and Italian companies, for an opportunity to explore mutual interests and business opportunities. After the lunch, we all headed off to the Stadio Olimpico – the main and largest sports facility of Rome, located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city.

It was quickly clear who was supporting whom as we all arrived to the Stadium. The Irish turnout was phenomenal, and there was a great atmosphere running through the stadium. Blueface would have been happy with either team winning, but credit where credit due, Ireland were the stronger team in what was a game of attrition. At least the sun stayed out for most of the match, and of course afterwards we were treated to some amazing food and wine in Trastevere.

We would like to thank all the lovely people we met over the weekend, and a special thank you to Enterprise Ireland, the Embassy of Ireland, and Bord Bia for a fabulous event.

For the third year in a row, the Blueface team were in attendance as a sponsor for the Ireland Funds Young Leaders annual BBQ. The Event – An All American style BBQ – was held in Lansdowne Rugby Club, a fantastic venue set against the backdrop of the Aviva stadium.

The event kicked off with some drinks from Sponsors Jameson & Corona, followed by a tasty American Style BBQ Buffet, which was finished off with some delicious Häagen-Dazs Ice cream for dessert. The evening continued till late with American music, wine and beer with the Blueface crew ruling the dance floor from start to finish.

The evening’s Highlight was undoubtedly the ‘Bucking Bronco’ which the agility of the guests were tested in an attempt to beat the record of 24 Seconds, set the previous year. Although one of our own team managed an impressive 37 seconds, the winner lasted an amazing 54 seconds! Blueface presented the winner with a Google Nexus 5 phone.

This year Alan Foy, Blueface Chief Executive, was appointed board member of The Ireland Funds.

The Young Leaders Society brings together young professionals to network and support the philanthropic work of The Worldwide Ireland Funds. The Young Leaders Society provides a forum for emerging philanthropists to become closely involved with the mission of The Worldwide Ireland Funds as well as with prominent business and civic leaders who support the organisation.

Pictured here are Brian Martin and Gerard Doherty of Blueface’s sales team taking in some well needed practice along the coast road ahead of next month’s charity cycle.

Blueface and Kedington are delighted to announce a joint 100km charity cycle in aid of Light of Maasai taking place on May 12, 2013. The cycle is not a race and is open to all participants. We’d like to extend a special invitation to any customer, partner or friends of either company who’d like to join us for the cycle.

Race Details

- The route will take in Sandymount, Killiney, Sandaymount, Howth, Malahide, Sandymount.

You must first make a donation to the charity for € 40.00 (100% of this goes directly to Light of Maasai – Charity No CHY 18519 – Registered in Ireland).

You can do this by either following the link below and donating via Paypal (please reference ‘BIKE’ and then your name) or you can send a cheque made payable to ‘Light of Maasai’ for my attention to our head office in Dublin (postal address below). Please include a note with your contact details (name/phone number/e-mail address).

Once the donation is received, I will contact you with your registration number. Your details will then be automatically included on the contact list for updates etc.

Important Note: Online registration via Paypal will close at midnight on Thursday 9th May, however if you know someone that is looking to participate in this event after online registration closes, ‘on the day’ registration will be available during Sunday morning registration, the entry fee for all on the day entrants will be € 70.

Questions?

If you’ve any questions, please drop a line to Lorraine.Watt@kedington.ie or Brian.Martin@blueface.ie – We look forward to seeing you on May 12th!

Its Christmas jumpers all the way today in Blueface HQ as we head into the last weekend before the big day! Between the awesome Christmas Market here in the IFSC, and the fresh (non-rainy for once!) weather, we’re definitely in the festive spirit! We’ve got a few last bits and bobs to sort out here, but the charades tournament is definitely happening later!

Very best wishes for you and yours over the holidays! If you need us, we will have email-based support on the 25th and 26th of December, with phone and email contact from the 27th onwards, so we’re never too far away

Here in Blueface, we like to work hard, and sometimes we like to let our hair down too. However, nothing could have prepared us for the surprise we got recently… Fresh from announcing Blueface’s expansion into the Italian market, the company treated us to a trip to Rome to celebrate our Christmas Party and hang out with our new colleagues in Blueface Italy!

For some of the group it was the first time in Rome and we were lucky to get a reasonably sunny weekend, despite a poor weather forecast and widespread flooding in Italy in the days before we went! For most of us, the weekend consisted of strolling around the amazing streets and buildings; enjoying wonderful food and wine; and doing a spot of shopping in the Christmas markets. The history and culture of the city is mind-boggling, with beautiful churches and incredible ancient ruins at every turn, not to mention the creativity of Italian car-parking!!

Our ready-made tour guides from Blueface Italy organised plenty of activities to help us get the most out of the weekend and their local knowledge came in handy for finding the best restaurants, cafes and Gelateries!

It was a great weekend and was enjoyed by all; here’s to Blueface Italy in 2013, maybe next year we’ll stay for a week

Blueface is delighted to congratulate Blueface Elevator Finalist and Dublin Regional Joint-Winner, MotionFox, on the launch of their new kids’ range, ‘Kubswear’.

With their entry in the Blueface Elevator competition, MotionFox really impressed us with an innovative range of safety-wear for cyclists, runners and walkers which combines the essential hi-viz vest with an expandable back panel, allowing for safe carrying of a backpack without obstructing the vest itself. Having enjoyed strong success with their adult range which is stocked at sports and cycling outlets nationwide, we’re delighted to see that MotionFox have now launched ‘Kubswear’, a fun hi-viz range for children which has been designed to increase safety and visibility at play and while cycling or walking to school.

As Rob Quigley, CEO of MotionFox said when he called in to our offices in Dublin last week, “There’s increasing numbers of primary pupils walking and cycling to school in Ireland, so we wanted to design a range of fun visibility clothing specifically for kids, that could be worn whether they are on their bike or simply walking to school or partaking in sports.”

The Kubswear vests have colourful and imaginative designs and can be worn as normal, or expanded via a set of simple fasteners that makes it easy to wear over a schoolbag or backpack, ensuring the wearer is seen with no bag blocking their hi-viz vests. The range has two super-cute designs, The Ladybug and The Turtle; as seen above. The Blueface ladies were particularly taken with the Ladybug; we’ve already tried to convince MotionFox to make some adult sizes!

Launched just in time for those dark winter mornings and evenings, the Kubswear range is available for ages 4-6/7-9/10-12, retails at € 24.95 and is available in at sports and bicycle shops, including; CityCycles (Blackhall Place), Hollingsworth (Kilmacud), Hollingsworth (Templogue), CycleBike (off Capel St.), P&K Cycles (Patrick St.) and on line at www.motionfox.com.

The Blueface team had a fantastic time at the Dublin Web Summit last week and we enjoyed having an opportunity to meet so many exciting Irish and international companies over the two days of the event. Our stand was a busy hub of activity for the entire duration of the Web Summit and our Blueface foosball table certainly seemed to bring out a few competitive streaks!

Very special thanks to the organisers and to everyone who came to chat to us at our stand. Our special Web Summit offer of a FREE International Number is still open for all attendees so just drop an email to sales@blueface.ie to find out more.